


Regeneration - It’s A Lottery

by hotchocolatedictator



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, M/M, Regeneration
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-02
Updated: 2020-07-02
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:34:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25039339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hotchocolatedictator/pseuds/hotchocolatedictator
Summary: The Doctor has regenerated many times. Jack hasn’t always been there, but he’s there now.
Relationships: Eleventh Doctor/Jack Harkness, Tenth Doctor/Jack Harkness, The Doctor/Jack Harkness
Comments: 8
Kudos: 86
Collections: Captain Jack Harkness Prompt Meme





	Regeneration - It’s A Lottery

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [CaptainJackHarknessPromptMeme](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/CaptainJackHarknessPromptMeme) collection. 



> Written for the Captain Jack Harkness prompt meme - Jack dealing with the Doctor regenerating (something like that - my memory’s a sieve)

The first time Jack sees the Doctor regenerate, it takes him by surprise.

He’s already confused (he can remember Daleks, and  _ pain _ , and darkness, and then he was back and running, bursting into the TARDIS just in time), but they’ve  _ made  _ it, they’re safe, all three of them, and it’s all going to be fine.

Then the Doctor starts talking about never seeing them again, and suddenly the future looks a lot less fine.

The Time Agency had mentioned regeneration (briefly, the way they taught anything involving Time Lords, not giving their pupils time to realise how little the Agency actually knew). The few words about cheating death, however, were nothing compared to watching his friend explode in golden light.

Even weirder is watching the stranger in the Doctor’s clothes, rambling about teeth and Barcelona the planet, and despite how obviously different the new man is, Jack can definitely see some of the Doctor in him.

It still takes a while to get used to, and the Doctor’s going to have to work for Jack’s forgiveness after pulling a trick like that.

* * *

The second time Jack sees the Doctor regenerate, it hurts.

It hurts the Doctor, of course, held in Jack’s arms as every cell in his body contorts, dies,  _ changes  _ until he’s brand new, squeaky clean and fresh off the production line (not that the Doctor would come off a production line - he’d be hand-crafted by a famous toy maker, unique and unrepeatable), and if anyone other than Jack was holding him they’d be burnt to a crisp by the energy streaming from him.

But it hurts for Jack, too. Not physically, but emotionally. This Doctor he’d talked with, travelled with, laughed with, ran with, even fallen in love with. And although he did not doubt he’d love whoever the Doctor became next, he couldn’t help but miss the man he’d spent so many happy years with.

Worst of all, what if the new Doctor stopped loving him back?

The new Doctor exclaims over his legs, crashes the TARDIS down to Earth and then snogs Jack silly.

That’s that answered, then.

* * *

The third time Jack sees the Doctor regenerate, they both know it’s time.

The Doctor may not want to change (it does hurt, as he’s pointed out on many occasions, for a wider variety of reasons than he’d have thought existed), and Jack may not want to see him go, but it’s been hundreds of years, and they’re both ready.

An old, grumpy Scot takes the place of Chinny (Jack has to thank his second Doctor - Sandshoes - for that one), but he has a smile for Jack and that’s when he knows for sure that he was right.

It’s all going to be fine.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed it! Kudos, comments etc. always appreciated!


End file.
